Question: The Creator created the will to receive, and then withdrew from it. Is this an action of the Creator or of the Kli, the desire?

Answer: When we speak about actions in spirituality, it appears as though the Kli is performing them. But does the Kli actually do anything? Actions are never performed by the Kli. We say that the light comes, the screen repels it, and then decides how much to receive and how much not to.

Imagine a biologist studying the functioning of a  cell. He adds an acid or something else to it, and the cell begins to behave in a certain way. Or something happens with a computer, and we say: “Look what it suddenly did to me!” What does “suddenly did” mean? You simply do not know how the computer is supposed to behave. Maybe it has a virus or something else, and that is why it behaves this way. But what does it mean that it “behaves”? Does it have a choice?

If you knew the whole system, you would of course not doubt how it would behave; you would know it in advance! Why is a specialist needed? Because he knows the system, and the causes of its behavior. He does not know the “character” of the computer; he simply approaches it or some system and says that here there must be such and such an input, and such and such a reaction.

Any system is a black box, and I do not care what is happening inside. But I know the inputs and outputs. Or let us say that there is some malfunction. I input something, and nothing comes out, or something comes out that should not. Then it needs repair. This is called a disease or malfunction.

That is how it is in any body—biological, mechanical, or electrical, it does not matter which. If you know its internal system precisely, its inputs and outputs, there is no difficulty in understanding how it will behave.

For example, yesterday I had a blood test. It was checked against 30 parameters, and from them I could see what in my body is in order and what not. That is, based on the system’s outputs one can determine that it is malfunctioning. But does the system itself possess any free choice regarding its behavior? Does the body choose how to behave?! No!

Therefore when we speak about all the Partzufim, worlds, and even souls, which supposedly have freedom of choice, this is not freedom of behavior, because there is a system of light, Kli (vessel), and what happens between them, and there is no mystery to it. Everything is clear beforehand; the game is fixed in advance. The input parameters are set on a higher level. Their cause is the sensation of the Creator, and that too is something predetermined from above.

Therefore we are speaking only about the attitude toward what is happening. But it turns out that the attitude too must be governed by law. So where is there any place for choice at all? This is what we do not know, and this is called “above reason.” If we investigate our actions and everything that influences us, we will not find any degree of freedom. According to logic, it cannot exist. It simply cannot!

This degree of freedom acts only in the spiritual realm. When the will to receive, situated in a particular set of circumstances, decides it wants to rise above itself, that specific intention can truly be free! Not in relation to the Creator, but in relation to the creation itself.

This is called “above reason,” and exists only in the spiritual. In our world, there is nothing of the kind. In our world, whether you will laugh in a minute or cry is the result of what is done to you. Whether you will run toward the goal or not is also set up for you. We are only in the stage of preparation for free choice.

We are gradually being taught how this is even possible in reality. But now, before the Machsom, we are all like animals. And beyond the Machsom, to the extent that the soul can create an intention for actions “above reason,” it is called “Israel.” This is already the measure of a human being, not an animal, and it is called “above reason.” This is creation.
[359865]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/26, Rabash, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Creature’s Free Choice
A System With One Degree Of Freedom
The Focal Point Of Freedom

There is only one path open to us leading to the Creator. If you wish, you may advance toward Him; if not,   you do not have to. The pace of your advancement depends on you, but only if you choose the single path, out of all 360 directions, that leads straight to Him.

But if you decide to go in one of the other 359 directions, paths that seem to be an alternative, then you are not free to choose. In that case, you will be tossed from side to side, through various directions and all kinds of states, so that by becoming confused, doing various things, and struggling your way out of them, you will once again come to this point of choice.

If you do not wish to make that choice, then continue revolving in the closed circle. You are given the opportunity to break out of it: if you wish, you can exit in the designated direction; if not wish, then, like the hand of a clock, you will complete another rotation until you return to the same starting point.

Later, on higher degrees, but not now, it becomes evident that free choice truly exists and consists only in choosing this one direction.

The whole of reality was created solely for the sake of this point of choice. Otherwise, if nothing depended on a person, then why would it be necessary to lead him through countless different states until the final correction.
[359435]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

Related Material:
Choosing the Single Path Among a Thousand Roads
The Way To The Goal
Close To The Point Of Choice

The choice of environment is in a person’s hands. He can place himself under the influence of the group, try to influence it himself so that this influence returns to him many times stronger, or simply elevate the group.

If he has chosen a teacher, then all that remains is to elevate the teacher as much as possible in his own eyes. The only work he can do with respect to the teacher is to place himself under the teacher’s influence as much as possible.

The lower he places himself, the higher the teacher will be in his eyes. With respect to the friends, however, there are several possibilities. He can try to change them, he can try to change himself, or he can try to change his relationship with the group.

But once the group has been chosen, a person will be under the influence of the environment that he himself has chosen. The only thing he can influence is his connection with the group.
[359370]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
If You Want to Achieve the Goal
Follow the Teacher
How Is The Environment Selected?

Question: It is said: “I created the evil inclination and created the Torah as a spice for it.” The evil inclination is creation. What then does “created the Torah” mean?

Answer: You are asking: “We learn that the Creator created the evil inclination and also created the Torah; in that case, what does the creation of the Torah mean?

On the other hand, it is written that the Creator produced the light and created the darkness. Creation (Beria) means separation (“Bar“) from a level referring to darkness. If the Creator created darkness, then why is the same word used regarding the Torah—”created the Torah as a spice”?

The expression “created the Torah as a spice” implies the Torah, not in its direct meaning, but as a spice, for this is the correction contained within the desire to receive. There is light, and there is an action performed by the light inside the desire to receive. The meaning is that the light acts inside this desire, changing the desire to receive into the intention for the sake of bestowal. Then the result of the action of receiving for the sake of bestowal is such that the action itself becomes similar to the light.

Thus, the discussion is not simply about the Torah, but about its action inside the desire to receive. Therefore, the Torah is also called created, for this is something new.

Why new? Given that the light itself is pleasure, it created the desire to receive pleasure. But since the light is also a desire to bestow, it awakens a sensation of shame inside the desire to receive.

First the Creator treats me to delicacies, and subsequently, entirely unconnected to the first, shows that it is precisely He who prepared everything for me and did so for my own good. He stirs within me feelings of shame, awkwardness, and reactions of this kind. This in itself constitures creation.

I have stated many times that shame itself is a creation and the result of the action of the light. This is what is called “created the Torah as a spice,” since with its help the desire to receive undergoes correction, which is what is called “spice.”
[359235]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

Related Material:
“Come And See” Your New Self
That Is Why You Will Be Called a Human Being
Spice Up Your Desire